Music Hero
Music Hero is a segment that premiered on 6 August 2016 and concluded on 18 March 2017. It is the first edition of Eat Bulaga!'s music competition for young musicians who are skilled at playing musical instruments. In a Philippine television market that is already saturated with singing competition shows, Eat Bulaga! hopes to offer a first-of-its-kind music contest that gave the spotlight to instrumentalists instead. After a rigorous eight-month-long instrumental battle, 17-year-old electric guitarist Blaster Silonga of Marikina City was proclaimed as Ultimate Music Hero of the competition. After the competition, seven of the eight grand finalists became regular performers on the noontime show and became known as the Music Hero band. A second edition titled Music Hero: The Vocal Battle began in June 2017.'' The new edition is a singing competition in search of a lead vocalist for the Music Hero band. Overview '''Registration and audition' The talent competition was open to male and female musicians 19 years old or below who are skilled at playing musical instruments, such as keyboard, violin, clarinet, guitar, and drums. Auditions were held at the Broadway Centrum. Alternatively, online auditions may be submitted to an email address provided by the show. Daily round The daily rounds occurred from 6 August to 28 October 2016. A total of 120 contestants competed in the 60 daily rounds. Each daily round featured two new musicians who competed against one another with their musical instruments. The round was divided into two parts. In the first round, each musician must play the song of their choice. In the second round, both musicians must engage in a final showdown by performing the same song with their instruments. Originally, different instruments were randomly paired with one another in the daily rounds, which proved difficult to judge the contestants' musical skills. Eventually, the segment began to pair musicians with the same instruments to make the judging fairer. The panel of judges typically included Eat Bulaga! ''hosts and well-known musicians. The criteria for judging were as follows: * Instrument mastery - 50% * Musicality - 30% * Overall performance - 20% Daily winners took home a cash prize and advanced to the semifinal round of the competition. '''Wildcard round' The week-long wildcard round was held from 31 October to 4 November 2016. A few contestants who lost in the daily rounds or the early semifinal rounds were once again given the opportunity to play onstage The returning contestants were asked to play the song that they performed in the daily rounds. Two contestants each day battled against each other for a spot in the future semifinal rounds. Semifinal round The early semifinal rounds occurred on Saturdays from 16 August to 8 October 2016. Three daily winners with different instruments competed against each other in the usual two-part round. Each musician must play the song of their choice in the first round before engaging in a one-song showdown in the second round. Because these weekly semifinal rounds were occurring simultaneously with the daily rounds, a few of the contestants who were eliminated in the early semifinal rounds were given a second opportunity to compete in the week-long wildcard round. After the wildcard round, the later semifinal rounds occurred daily from 5 November to 8 December 2016. Unlike before, the later semifinal rounds paired only two musicians instead of three, and as much as possible paired musicians with the same instruments. The semifinalists battled in the usual two-part round. The 35 winners who advanced to the next round of the competition became known as the Music Hero Squad. A one-day wildcard round for eliminated semifinalists occurred on 9 December 2016. Three returning musicians battled against each other for the coveted 36th spot on the Music Hero Squad. Only one emerged as the winner. Clash of Heroes The 36 contestants were then separated into different categories based on their instruments: drums, acoustic guitar, woodwind (flute and clarinet), keyboards, electric guitar, string (cello and violin), bass guitar, and saxophone. The lone cello player who got through was grouped with the six violin players in the string category, while the lone clarinet player was grouped with the three flute players in the woodwind category. Elimination round The contestants then went through another elimination round until only two or three were left within their instrument categories. This elimination round was composed of two parts. The first part is the song choice. In the second part, each contestant must play a different song from the category that was randomly selected by a computer-generated shuffle track. Prior to the battle, the contestants had been asked to prepare a song to play for each category. Because the saxophone and bass guitar categories only had two or three contestants that won in the semifinal rounds, they did not need to hold this elimination round. Steal the Spot Eliminated contestants were invited once again to challenge a grand finalist who have secured a spot in the grand finals. One previously memorable contestant for each instrument category was given the opportunity to do so. The round was composed of two parts: song choice and one-song challenge. Only one challenger, Shammah Alegado, was able to steal the spot of a grand finalist in the string category. Grand finals The grand finals for each instrument category was split into two rounds. The first round placed the judges inside an enclosed space in order to judge the competing musicians based solely on their pure musicality. The contestants were able to choose their own songs for this round. In the second round, the competing musicians must play only one song provided by the judges while giving their own rendition and adding new flavors to the song. The contestants were judged based on their overall presence onstage and mastery of their instruments. Battle of the Champions The Battle of the Champions is the final round of the competition that took place on 18 March 2017. The eight winners of the instrument categories competed in the two-round championship showdown. The panel of judges included musical arranger Mon Faustino, musical director Butch Miraflor, songwriter Raul Mitra, international composer Danny Tan, and record producer Mel Villena. In the first round, the eight grand finalists were divided into two groups of four to form Band A and Band B. The first round is judged based on the grand finalists' performance as a group to examine their dynamic and style for their chosen musical pieces. Band A won the first round and its members advanced to the second round of the competition. In the second round, the four musicians of the winning band faced against one another in a final showdown with the song of their choice. The contestants were able to pick their own song for their final performances. Seventeen-year-old electric guitarist Blaster Silonga was named as the The Ultimate Music Hero'' in the grand finals of the competition, receiving ₱500,000 in cash prize. Results Chart '''Daily round' Week of 6 August–13 August Week of 15 August–19 August Week of 22 August–26 August Week of 29 August–2 September Week of 5 September–9 September Week of 12 September–16 September Week of 19 September–23 September Week of 26 September–30 September Week of 3 October–7 October Week of 10 October–15 October Week of 18 October–21 October Week of 24 October–28 October Wildcard round ' '''Semifinal round ' '''Clash of Heroes Drums Acoustic Guitar Woodwind Instruments Keyboards Electric Guitar String Instruments Bass Guitar Saxophone Battle of the Champions The ultimate grand finals for the competition took place on 18 March 2017. The first round is judged based on the grand finalists' performance as a group in order to examine their dynamic and style for their chosen musical pieces. Band A won the first round and advanced on to the second round of the competition. In the second round, the four remaining grand finalists faced against one another in a final showdown with the song of their choice. Seventeen-year-old Blaster Silonga was named as The Ultimate Music Hero. Category:Segments Category:Studio Segments Category:Talent Contests Category:2010s Segments Category:2016 Segments Category:2017 Segments Category:Music Hero Category:Editions of Music Hero Category:Music Competitions Category:Musical Instrument Contests